Sunday, November 23, 2008

Top 5 underrated supervillains (in no order)

I told you it was coming, and here it is. The top 5 underrated supervillans in Marvel and DC comics. Just like the other post, I've included a bonus character for you all to enjoy. Click here for the first post, on the top 5 underrated superheroes.

MysterioCompany: Marvel (primarily a Spider-Man foe)Real name: Quentin Beck, Daniel Berkhart, and Francis KlumYear introduced: 1964In comics: Three men have donned the fishbowl-shaped helmet of Mysterio since he was created in '64. None other than Klum have had special abilities (he can teleport like Nightcrawler), but use special effects and illusions to trick their foes into believing things. For instance, Mysterio once tricked Spider-Man into thinking he was six inches tall. Yeah, he's a total badass. And Beck (the original Mysterio) is rumored to be gay.Other than that, the story behind Mysterio has been an interesting one. To make a long story short, Beck killed himself, was replaced by his friend Berkhart, who was arrested and whose costume was stolen by the Kingpin and sold to Klum, whose actions unknowingly awakened Beck from the dead. And now Beck is back in a purple-and-red costume, with half of his head missing. Confused? Good. That's part of his character.In media: He's been in nearly every Spider-Man game, and in a few other Marvel titles (such as Ultimate Alliance). He's also been on every single version of any Spider-Man television series ever made.

ZsaszCompany: DC (primarily a Batman foe)

Real name: Victor ZsaszYear introduced: 1992In comics: Though he has no superhuman abilities, Victor Zsasz is one fucked up serial killer. He's killed hundreds (possibly thousands) of people, uncaring of their age, sex, social status, or anything else (though he likes killing young women). Having no set method of killing (besides slitting throats), he has evaded Batman several times. A lot of the unsolved murders in Gotham have been attributed to Zsasz, considering these things.He has made an attempt on Alfred Pennyworth's (Batman's loyal butler) life as well. For every successful murder he commits, Zsasz marks a place on his body with a tally mark. Recently, he's talked about "running out of room."

In media: Zsasz was in Batman Begins, briefly. He was also in the video game adaptation of the movie, and played a bigger role. He's also been in a few other games, most notably the Nintendo DS version of Lego: Batman.

Mister Mxyzptlk (pronounced "Mix-Yez-Pittle-Ick")Company: DC (primarily a Superman foe)Real name: UnknownYear introduced: 1944In comics: An imp from the fifth dimension, Mxyzptlk (AKA "Mxy") is capable of almost anything. His powers are literally limitless, only bound by the edges of his imagination. A good example of exactly how much power he has was illustrated in Superman's famous story arc Emperor Joker, in which the clown prince of evil manages to steal 99% of Mxy's power. After doing so, he essentially unravels space-time as we know it, creating the universe in his own image with the wave of his hand. Mxy, on the other hand, would never do anything evil, claiming that he would "become bored too easily." He basically just likes to screw around with people, and is technically not a "villain." The only way to get him to return back to the fifth dimension is to trick him into saying his name backwards (kltpzyxm).Also, the "Batman version" of Mxyzptlk is Bat-Mite, a strange, flea-like creature dressed as Batman (who is also from the fifth dimension, seen in the above picture).In media: He was on the Superman animated show in the 90's, was on the show Lois and Clark (played by Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel), and was in an episode of Smallville (playing a lame-ass human that could merely influence people around him). He was also considered to be the villain in Superman III.

ScorpionCompany: Marvel (primarily a Spider-Man foe)Real name: Mac GarganYear introduced: 1965In comics: One of my favorite villains,Mac Gargan is a clinically-insane former private investigator that despises Spider-Man. Originally hired by Jonah Jameson to find out why Peter Parker takes good pictures of Spidey, he became interested in defeating the wall-crawler when he took a serum designed to give the subject powers equal to that of Parker's. This serum also made him completely batshit crazy, as well as granting him superhuman strength, agility, and the ability to stick to most surfaces. His armor has a prehensile tail that has different types of weapons inside of it (bullets, acid, and electricity being the most commonly used).Since 2005, Mac Gargan has been the new Venom, as seen below:He also recently combined both his Scorpion costume and the Venom symbiote to create the incredibly lame Venorpion:In media: Like Mysterio, he has appeared in nearly every single Spider-Man game and TV show, as well as Ultimate Alliance.

ArcadeCompany: Marvel (primarily an X-Men foe, though was introduced in a Spider-Man and Captain Britain team-up series)Real name: UnknownYear introduced: 1977In comics: Not superpowered by any means, Arcade is a villain who uses robots and traps of his invention to attempt to kill heroes (and sometimes villains). He has a series of "theme parks" named Murderworld where he forces said heroes and villains to go through a series of tests, in all of which failing means death. He is not unlike Jigsaw from the Saw movies, in the sense that he always has one single way for the person or persons to escape death, usually at a high cost.In media: He had a central villain role in Ultimate Alliance, as well as appearances in a few other games. He was also re-imagined as a game-obsessed teenager in X-Men: Evolution.Note: Sorry for the crappy picture, it was the only one I could find.Bonus villain!

OnomatopoeiaCompany: DC (primarily a Green Arrow foe)Real name: UnknownYear introduced: 2002In comics: Created by Clerks director Kevin Smith, Onomatopoeia is a strange villain with even stranger characteristics. Not much is known about him, except for the fact that he can perfectly imitate sounds (hence his name), rarely speaks, and is a Caucasian male that potentially has superhuman abilities (most likely strength and stamina). He uses guns and other projectile weapons, and targets non-superpowered heroes to kill (hence his fight with the Green Arrow).He is currently starring in a Batman miniseries titled Cacophony, written by Smith. I haven't picked up any of the issues yet, but I am assured it is good.

In media: None.

Special thanks to Ashley, Ryan, and Vance for helping me with this post.